Reply
Occasional Contributor
Posts: 11
Registered: ‎01-14-2019

Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

I wonder if shopping channels plan to "farm" out their business to actual "home" channels.  Several hosts this week announced they are leaving the Network.  Will they all be doing business through social media/video?  I can't see it being lucrative for the channels or the hosts.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,809
Registered: ‎12-24-2010

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

That's a bazaar thought

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,109
Registered: ‎04-14-2013

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

From what I have seen, the trend towards various media outside of TV has been long brewing (somewhere within the last decade is where I first spotted it), in all formats.

 

I don't see it happening soon, but of course I may be completely wrong (and how soon is soon?).

Cogito ergo sum
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,960
Registered: ‎05-21-2010

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

@lizzieborden  I think their days might be numbered. The heyday of home shopping was before you could buy just about anything online and have it delivered to you.  When I first started watching QVC, I didn't have a home computer and had to watch and call in. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,739
Registered: ‎05-19-2012

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

carrie ann has an excellent point.  Recently, I've begun thinking that high consumerism -- as we have known it for several generations -- will be out of fashion for a while.  This state of affairs will jeopardize all retail outlets -- brick and mortar and TV especially.

 

The millennials with their clean and uncluttered space philosophy, Marie Kondo and her decluttering approach to living, etc., have switched things around.  We alll know that what we regarded as treasured heirlooms are devalued as "junk" by many of our children, the people we thought would cherish what we saved from great-grandmother's home.

 

I've begun thinking that shopping channels are now fighting for their life.  That is why you see new blood infused with new-hire salespeople and veterans leaving the same channels.  The times, they are a'changin'.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,329
Registered: ‎02-07-2011

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

@50Mickey  I agree.  30+ years ago there were no other options and QVC/HSN were a novelty and fun.  That is no longer true and IMO their days are numbered.

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,415
Registered: ‎11-25-2011

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

I literally bought stock in QVC back in the mid-90’s.

Didn’t make a ton but definitely yielded a profit...when it was new. 

 

I loved the idea of someone living out on a farm in the midwest

could carry the same fancy handbag, wear the same makeup,

wear the same pretty clothes as someone in the big metroplex cities..

that was so innovative!  Plus back then, I was heavier...a XL-1X

and finding pretty clothes in extended sizes was almost non-existent

in the stores. I loved Susan Graver!  I do think QVC was instrumental 

to have clothing manufacturers readily offer extended sizes in the

B/M stores.

 

Though, the internet grew...and the opportunities grew as well. 

Today, we can buy anything online. I see QVC as a weigh-station

for many brands. It’s like the old shopping outlets from decades ago.

 

QVC’s like a Sephora-Kohl’s-Ulta-Bed-Bath-Beyond-Macy’s

type of ‘store’. Powerful brands lose their shine, head to QVC

before getting to strip-mall stores, then end up at the outlet mall.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,558
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

I don't know if this is still true, but years ago, when my local cable company cancelled QVC, I was told it was because QVC and the cable company couldn't agree on an amount the Q would kick back to the cable company every month - a percentage of sales.  I wonder if something like that is still in effect.  More to the point, would we shop at the Q if it was online only, similar to Amazon or others?  If the price was right, I would say "yes."

Honored Contributor
Posts: 65,680
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?

I suspect certain cadres of people will always like to shop and while it's glaring that the venues of choice are changing, I think TV based home shopping has shot itself in the foot. The business model, to use an overused term, is antiquated and rather than seek innovative ways and enhanced variety to, perhaps, ensure their survival, they increasingly seem to rely on the infomercial model, focusing too much time on the same few items... In the process, they're boring existing customers into oblivion and pretty much ensuring younger customers, who simply aren't willing to listen to a twenty minute spiel about a single item, aren't going to be tuning in... I think they also overestimate how much pull theoretically perky, younger hosts will have with a younger audience... I suspect younger potential customers find them just as annoying as do older customers...


In my pantry with my cupcakes...
Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,793
Registered: ‎11-16-2014

Re: Are Shooping Channels Phasing Out?


@stevieb wrote:

I suspect certain cadres of people will always like to shop and while it's glaring that the venues of choice are changing, I think TV based home shopping has shot itself in the foot. The business model, to use an overused term, is antiquated and rather than seek innovative ways and enhanced variety to, perhaps, ensure their survival, they increasingly seem to rely on the infomercial model, focusing too much time on the same few items... In the process, they're boring existing customers into oblivion and pretty much ensuring younger customers, who simply aren't willing to listen to a twenty minute spiel about a single item, aren't going to be tuning in... I think they also overestimate how much pull theoretically perky, younger hosts will have with a younger audience... I suspect younger potential customers find them just as annoying as do older customers...


Perfectly stated @stevieb and exactly my same thoughts!